A $1.3 billion chemical production facility to be built in Ascension Parish by Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi is economically questionable and unnecessarily increases greenhouse gas emissions, according to an energy think tank report released last week.
The proposed Mitsubishi plant is “the wrong project, at the wrong place and time, with the wrong financial scenario,” says the report from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, or IEEFA, an Ohio-based nonprofit.
Mitsubishi Chemical Group would be capable of annually producing 350,000 tons of methyl methacrylate, or MMA, a chemical component found in cement, adhesives, textiles and plastics.
The facility would also be among the state’s top 50 greenhouse gas emitters, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The facility would release more than 780,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually even though an alternative production process less reliant on fossil fuels exists, the IEEFA report notes.
Mitsubishi stated in 2022 that its proposed facility “achieves the lowest possible carbon footprint for MMA production.” The facility’s natural gas-based production process is also intended to help the industry shift away from the dominant method of cyanide-based production.
But IEEFA says Mitsubishi does not need to choose between cyanide or natural gas for the chemical component’s production since there is another option: An alternative biofuel-based technology has become viable and is already being adopted elsewhere by Mitsubishi and its competitors.
The market conditions and economic viability of the facility have also worsened, IEEFA reports. Compared to when Mitsubishi began planning this facility in 2014, construction costs have increased, prices for the chemical component have flatlined and growth forecasts have reduced.
The global market for methyl methacrylate will be oversaturated by the time the plant is expected to begin operating in 2028, says Tom Sanzillo, director of financial analysis for IEEFA and former deputy comptroller for New York.
Mitsubishi Chemical Group representative Eri Nishumata declined an interview request on behalf of the company, stating that “the final investment decision has not yet been made.” Mitsubishi did not respond to a request for comment on IEEFA’s analysis.
